Interview with a Taoist master: Year of the Serpent (2001)

The Year of the Serpent: To Bemoan or Celebrate?

By Benjamin Tong

On January 24, 2001, the very first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, 4699, the Year of the Snake, I had the distinct pleasure of tape-interviewing Master Duan Mu Bai, a Harvard-educated 93-year-old doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), classical scholar, and teacher of Ch’i Gung and Kung Fu. He refers to himself as Christian as well as Buddhist and Taoist. We had tea and vegetarian dim sum at a restaurant in the Richmond District (“New Chinatown”) of San Francisco.

Tong: It is good to see you again, Sifu. Sun Nien Fai Lok! It certainly has been a long time between visits.

Duan: Sun Nien Fai Lok, indeed! So what’s on your mind?

Tong: As I said on the phone, I have a few questions to ask you about the Year of the Snake. A number of Chinese- and Asian-Americans I happen to know seem perplexed and bothered about being identified with this particular zodiac animal. Can you help them, perhaps with a bit of historical and cultural perspective on the significance of the serpent?

Duan: First of all, it would be more accurate to say “Year of the Serpent” instead of “Year of the Snake.” Y’know, the serpent has certainly gotten what Americans refer to as a “bad rap.” A bad reputation. In Western societies, people are told that the snake in the Garden of Eden presumably introduced “original sin” into the human dimension when it tempted Eve to take a bite of the forbidden apple on the Tree of Knowledge.

Tong: Not only that. In our mass entertainment media, the serpent is associated with giant pythons and king cobras that pursue and swallow up human beings in a single gulp. In the most recent issue of ASIAN WEEK (1.18.01), a news article reported that the business of an Asian restaurant in Dodge City, Kansas, dropped by 40% in a month’s time because of a rumor that “the restaurant’s owners killed and cooked dogs, cats and snakes.”

Duan: Yes, given these associations, it seems one would be most unfortunate to be born in the “Year of the Serpent.”

Tong: My wife usually doesn’t want to acknowledge or talk about having been born in the “Year of the Rodent!” But that’s another story…!

Duan: Hah! To be sure, the serpent is not viewed as evil in societies with any kind of longstanding anchoring in traditional Chinese beliefs, values and practices. In addition to “overseas” Chinese communities, we’re talking mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and so forth. For one thing, Tai Ch’i Chuan, that most well-known of health and martial arts regimens, is in fact based on the movements, the spirit and the psychology of the serpent. And by the way, Chinese do eat snake meat and consume snake soup. Snake is a source of potent “yang” or fire energy, especially in winter. These items are readily available in Chinese countries. Despite the Western taboo, I can think of at least two or three restaurants right here in New Chinatown where snake soup is available, shall we say, “on the side and on the sly.”

Tong: Hey, I’m ready to order up a steaming bowl of snake soup right about now. I can’t think of anything more appropriate in this kind of severe killer cold and wet weather we are experiencing in the Bay Area. But, tell me, Sifu, are there unique qualities of the serpent that have been held in high esteem among Chinese people?

Duan: Certainly. Along with the other eleven animals of the Chinese zodiac, the snake serves as a perpetual “reminder” to humankind that life involves the ability to adapt creatively to any and all situations. The serpent, for starters, is eminently flexible, is it not? Its form is ever-shifting and ever-changing. The ox, on the other hand, reminds us that there are occasions when it is best to stick ploddingly to a consistent, “straight ahead” and predictable course of action. The serpent, by contrast, reminds us of the need for….

Tong: ….flexibility of response. On that point, it occurs to me that Tai Ch’i Chuan, patterned after the movements of the snake, emphasizes the importance of being able to shift one’s focus whenever necessary, and to do so effectively without being thrown off center. The snake continually turns its head and constantly “sees” everything behind it, to the side, beneath and above.

Duan: Right! By contrast, ordinary human beings usually focus only on what is directly in front of them, usually no farther than their noses. Their peripheral vision is quite weak. In our day, people are so glued to what’s in front of them – like computer and TV screens – that they become mired in visual stasis. This might account for a lot of auto accidents on modern streets and highways, where only very few drivers are simultaneously aware of what is going on to their left and right, as well what might be further up ahead in traffic, and so forth.

Tong: Hmmm. Let me shift a moment to a related note. You started with a Scriptural “connection,” Sifu: the still-controversial reference to the snake as the source of “original sin.” Is that the final word in the Bible about the significance of the serpent, as far as Christendom is concerned?

Duan: No. In the 23rd Psalm, the narrator says to God, “You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies…” Now the meaning of this line puzzled me for a long time, until my Taoist mentor gave his interpretation.

Tong: You got me there. I’m as puzzled as you once were. Actually, I never did pay much attention to that sentence. And none of my Sunday School teachers knew what to do with it whenever the 23rd Psalm was discussed. What is the connection with qualities of the serpent?

Duan: Well, when I asked my Sifu what the line meant, he simply said “You should be THAT comfortable in the midst of precarious situations in life!” He went on to explain by referring to that state of being known as “wu wei.” That is to say, the serpent by its very instinctual nature is always “centered”, always poised and relaxed. Yet at the same time, it is always prepared to “strike.” That is wu wei – maximum yin coexisting with maximum yang – not acting and at the same time, ever ready to act.

Tong: Always poised to strike…?

Duan: Yes, we’re not just talking about the serpent protecting itself or attacking prey. This wu wei , this serpentine state of being, is a metaphor for being always prepared for any and all of life’s contingencies. Once acquired by a person – and practicing meditation or Tai Ch’i is but one way – one can respond, shall we say, with highly “informed” or “trained” instincts, rather than confusion, indignation or panic.

Tong: I see, this means being able to deal with any kind of “attack” in life, as it were.

Duan: True enough. The “attack” can assume any form and appear unannounced, in any direction. We’re talking the coming recession, carcinogens suddenly “discovered” in our food supply or over-the-counter medications, abduction of our children, being laid off from one’s job in midlife, and so on..

Tong: Here in the Bay Area: earthquakes, rolling blackouts,…

Duan: The wu wei that the serpent models for humankind enables us to prevail and respond in an arena marked by pervasive uncertainty. What’s that old saying? “We can only be certain of death and taxes,” little else. This is both the fascination and the terror of life in this dimension. Life is radically contingent. No matter how stable things can look or feel, anything can happen at any moment.

Tong: In fact, a good friend of mine, Dr J. C. Ng, reminded me the other day of that ancient Chinese observation, “Everyday is a war.” Life is war.

Duan: Wu wei then means, to borrow the phrase from Hamlet, that “The readiness is all.” And that readiness to deal in a centered fashion with any contingency can only come from being attuned to Nature or being at one with the (Universal Life) Force. Put another way, it comes from being at one with the Creator or the Great Spirit. In Christian language, this is what “atonement” really means – the state of “at-one-ment” with God.

Tong: Thank you. I shall henceforth look more kindly upon snakes and serpents, ever mindful of their “reminder” role in the scheme of things. Sun Nien Fai Lok!

Duan: Sun Nien Fai Lok in Seh Nien (Year of the Serpent) to you!